Assistance in language translation is required when a traveling bank customer who lost or misplaced the customer's debit card is unable to communicate with the staff of a branch bank in a foreign country. Manual emergency-cash procedures, for example the maintenance of a list of bank personnel with foreign-language skills, have several complications. Some of these complications are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,218 to Jennings et al (“the '218 patent”), which is incorporated by reference herein. Accordingly, it is advantageous to employ an automated multilingual interactive system and method to perform financial transactions, such as the system and method disclosed in the '218 patent. The '218 patent discloses a system and method for allowing telephone-based interactive performance of financial transaction in multiple languages.
One complication in performing a financial transaction with an automated, multilingual interactive-system is the handling of the debit and the settlement associated with the transaction. Once the transaction is authorized and the customer receives the requested currency, the debit must be forwarded to the appropriate business, or issuer, and logged. Moreover, the transaction must be settled by, for example, transferring funds to complete the transaction from the issuer to the local acquirer. Manual forwarding, logging, and settling can give rise to several complications. For example, manual forwarding, logging, and settling can give rise to delay. As the foreign-exchange rate sometimes fluctuates a great deal, delay can impact the transaction. As another example, manual forwarding, logging, and settling can give rise to administrative errors, such as data-entry errors. As another example, manual forwarding, logging, and settling is costly, in that it requires the use of trained employees, sometimes including employees with foreign-language skills, to administrate the process.